Cool treats, one street at a time
Pioneer Times photo/Joseph CyrHOULTON — The instantly recognizable music of an ice cream truck brings a smile to many people’s faces as it triggers fond memories of days gone by.
For adults, that sound transports them back to a simpler time when they were young and carefree, spending their summers playing outside for hours on end. And for today’s youth, it creates a bond to share with their parents or grandparents.
And now that sound can be heard most evenings in the Shiretown and the surrounding community as Thirty-Two Below, an ice cream truck owned and operated by Scott and Pam White of Houlton, has opened for business.
Three of the Whites’ four children — Olivia, Quinn and Isabella — are in charge of keeping the cool treats coming, while their mother can typically be found behind the wheel.
“I have always wanted to do this,” said Pam. “I tried to talk Frankie, our oldest, into doing it with me years ago, but it never worked out.”
Scott said he was looking for some type of work for his young children to do this summer, but since they were not old enough to obtain jobs, he did the next best thing. He went out and created one for them.
“We wanted the kids to see how a business worked,” Pam said. “And they really are doing the bulk of it. They do the ordering, and serving. They were involved with getting all the licenses we needed. And next, they will be learning about sales tax.”
In October 2015, Pam and Scott journeyed to Massachusetts in search of their ice cream truck. Though they had hoped to find one that was completely outfitted, that plan didn’t pan out.
“Then we resorted to just finding a truck that we could make into what we wanted,” Pam said.
The truck that the White family is using has been painstakingly restored by Scott, who knows his way around vehicles as owner of Aroostook Auto Glass in Houlton. The 25-year-old utility truck that most recently was, ironically, a glass replacement van, was stripped down and rebuilt.
The name Thirty-Two Below was chosen by the family after several others were bantered about.
Thirty-Two Below only sells pre-packaged ice creams and frozen novelty treats, due to licensing restrictions. If they had wanted to sell ice cream cones, their van would have needed to be equipped with four sinks and a much more expensive license to operate.
“We honestly didn’t know if the business would take off or not,” Pam said.
As a family business, the Whites’ three daughters are responsible for keeping the business running smoothly.
“The kids are doing awesome so far,” Pam said.
“It’s fun,” said Isabella, the youngest of the White clan at age 7. “My favorite is the toll-house cookie.”
“I like it a lot,” Olivia, 16, said. “It’s been really fun.” She admitted, however, that she is not a huge fan of ice cream, which has been a good thing because that means there is no temptation to eat the product while working.
“It’s really funny to see how some people react,” Quinn, 13, added. “We’ll see kids chasing after us, and some people track us down in their cars.” Quinn’s favorite is the vanilla drumstick. Quinn added it was not uncommon to see kids, and sometimes adults, jumping up and down by the side of the road as they anxiously wait for the truck to stop.
“I think it really is a nostalgic thing for a lot of the older people,” Pam said. “There is just something about the music that makes people want ice cream.”
The Whites have a variety of ice cream songs to choose from, but they keep gravitating to “It’s a Small World” as their go-to song. They have been surprised to learn that the music carries for several blocks.
People can contact the Whites via Facebook to see if they are out selling on any particular evening and can request a stop at their home. The truck has also been requested at one family reunion and a birthday party.
For more information, or to contact them, visit them on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Thirty-Two-Below-1682452175349354/.
